utilities during turn over

[Bill E.]

I understand during a turn over the utilities have to go back into the landlord's name. My question is when a new tenant is moving in, what information do you have to provide them with to put the utilities into their name? Obviously they need to know the utility company, but do they need the account number or will they be provided a new account number? Also how do you check that they did in fact put the utilities into their name?

[Kathleen Leary]

Here, all utilities require a special "revert to owner" form be on file; otherwise, the service is just turned off. 

The tenant has to show a copy of their signed lease/agreement to set up a new account in their own name.

I coordinate with tenants regarding switch-over day; I schedule a specific day for MY service to end; a couple of days after that, I call the utility to double-check that the tenant has gotten their new account set up.

Believe it or not, the CS reps for all the utilities (around here) are super-nice & helpful. Never had a problem.